Neuroscientists are beginning to study the impact of storytelling on the consumer brain. In one Princeton University study, neuroscientist Uri Hasson found: “…not only did all of the listeners show similar brain activity during the story, the speaker and the listeners had very similar brain activity despite the fact that one person was producing language and the others were comprehending it.”
These findings indicate that storytelling creates a formidable bond between the teller and the listener. When we hear a story, it engages us in the same way it does the person who is telling it. Our employees can be our greatest storytellers. They will advocate for us if they feel we care. We need to take the time to listen…
Consider the Wynn Casinos culture of storytelling. In every department, they have a pre-shift meeting where they share a story — a story of something interesting that happened with a customer, or how an employee went above and beyond. These stories create a powerful community bond where the values of the brand are shared, so they can be can be lived and breathed.
Storytelling isn’t just about creating advertising stories for our customers. Our most important consumer of our brand is actually the employees who represent the heart of our message.
Let’s start telling a story or two inside our culture and watch the heartbeat rise.
Like Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”